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PM insists intelligence sharing with US is legal

Radio NZ,

21 May, 2014

The Prime Minister says he can assure New Zealanders that any information-sharing activity carried out by intelligence agencies is done within the law.

John Key has confirmed information gathered by the Government Communications Security Bureau could have been used in identifying targets for American attacks using unmanned aircraft.

However, he said the GCSB did not supply information leading to the death of New Zealander Daryl Jones in a drone strike in Yemen last year.

Mr Key said New Zealand has shared information with the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, but he cannot be sure exactly what use it was put to.

He said it's possible it was used to pursue people seen as a threat.

The Green Party says it is not just a matter of whether agencies are acting within the law.

Co-leader Russel Norman said there are serious ethical questions about New Zealand's supplying information that may lead to extra-judicial killings.

He said New Zealand should shut the Waihopai facility, as it is a crucial part of the intelligence-gathering system.

Defence analyst Terence O'Brien said New Zealand's membership of the Five Eyes intelligence network needs to be more widely debated.

Mr O'Brien, a senior fellow at Victoria University's Centre for Strategic Studies, said Five Eyes is being used to help the pursuit of the war on terror.

He said there is a question as to whether New Zealand should continue to be involved in that.

However, Lance Beath, another senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies, said he has no qualms about information being used in that way.

He said intelligence-sharing is standard procedure and is part of New Zealand's work with the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Other comment

A human rights group in Britain says the New Zealand Government is complicit in drone killings, which it says are the death penalty without trial.

Reprieve legal director Kat Craig told Morning Report there is no transperancy over America's drone programme and New Zealand should not be providing intelligence which could assist it.

And security researcher Nicky Hager said New Zealand's intelligence work for the United States is pulling it into wars that it has no place in.

He told Morning Report that New Zealand is turning its back on its principles by aiding unjustified attacks in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen.

Mr Hager said Mr Key is being flippant about New Zealand's role in foreign wars and is not taking it seriously enough.